Rafael Silva

Rafael Carlos da Silva (born 11 May 1987) is a Brazilian heavyweight judoka.

In 2005 Rafael already represented Brazil internationally, even though he had only been in the sport for 3 years, and in 2006 Silva competed in the World Judo Juniors Championships in Santo Domingo.

But it was in 2010 that Silva's results began to appear more prominently.

At the 2010 South American Games he won three gold medals: in the Men's +100 kg, Men's Open and Men's Team category.

In 2010, Silva competed in his first adult world championship, at the 2010 World Judo Championships, when he finished in fifth place.

In 2011, Silva competed in the Pan American Games for the first time, in Guadalajara, placing second in the Men's +100 kg category after losing the final to Cuban Oscar Bryson.

Throughout 2011 and 2012, the Brazilian established himself as one of the most promising judokas in the category, winning more than 11 medals on the World Circuit, including silver in the traditional Tokyo Grand Slam and the silver medal in the men's team world championship, in Salvador, Bahia.

He has two Olympic bronze medals (London 2012 and Rio 2016) in addition to having 4 individual medals in World Judo Championships (one silver and three bronze), in addition to being a six-time Pan American Judo champion.

Born in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, and raised in Rolândia, in the interior of Paraná, Silva only discovered judo at the age of 15, a very old age for top athletes.

The difficulties brought about by the late start in the sport, such as the lack of technique and the basic fundamentals of judo, were overcome with a lot of training.

With this, he managed to ascend quickly.

At the 2012 Pan American Judo Championships held in Montreal, Canada, Silva, then third in the IJF (International Judo Federation) world rankings in the over 100 kg category, won what would become the first of many golds in this competition, defeating Cuban Oscar Brayson.

In 2012, Silva definitively joined the gallery of greatest Brazilian judokas, when he won the bronze medal at the London Olympic Games, the only one in Brazil's men's judo at that edition and the first medal in the Brazil's history of the heavyweight division.

At the 2013 Pan American Judo Championships, held in San Jose, Costa Rica, Baby became two-time champion of the Heavyweight category (+100 kg).

At the 2013 Judo World Championship, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, "Baby", as Rafael Silva is nicknamed, reached the final, but lost to the legendary judoka Teddy Riner, who became six-time world champion.

With this, he won the silver medal.

After 6min18s, Bor received the second shido, and Baby celebrated bronze - his third individual medal at world championships (silver in Rio 2013, bronze in Chelyabinsk 2014 and Budapest 2017).

In the mixed team modality, he won a silver medal representing Brazil.

At the 2014 Pan American Judo Championships, held in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Baby became three-time champion of the Heavyweight category (+100 kg).

At the 2014 World Judo Championships, held in Chelyabinsk, Russia, Rafael Silva reached the semifinals, once again having to face the invincible Teddy Riner (no one had managed to defeat him in the heavyweight category at a world championship).

After losing the semifinal, he returned to the bronze medal, where he beat Dutchman Roy Meier and took bronze.

In April 2015, at the 2015 Pan American Judo Championships in Edmonton, he made a Brazilian final against David Moura, but was defeated, taking the silver medal.

In June 2015, he suffered an injury to his right pectoralis major muscle tendon during strength training and underwent a surgical procedure on June 30.

As a result, he had to be removed from the 2015 Pan American Games, from the 2015 World Judo Championships and was unable to compete for the rest of the year.

Silva maintained his excellent form throughout the 2016 Olympic cycle and came to lead the world rankings, ahead of Frenchman Teddy Riner, one of the biggest names in the history of world judo.

In 2016, Baby fought to recover from his injury and get back ahead of his compatriot David Moura to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

At the 2016 Pan American Judo Championships in Havana, with a new final between Baby and Moura, Baby this time won and became four-time champion of the tournament.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, he won again the bronze medal in the Men's +100 kg, losing only to Teddy Riner.

At the 2017 World Judo Championships held in Budapest, Hungary, Baby beat Ushangi Kokauri, from Azerbaijan, in his debut, by ippon.

Next, against the Romanian Daniel Natea, he won by waza-ari.

The next rival was Tunisian Faicel Jaballah.

Once again, Rafael Silva managed to win by ippon.

In the quarterfinals, he faced Teddy Riner, who hadn't lost a fight in 7 years, and had no chance.

The Frenchman applied two waza-aris and immobilized the Brazilian for 20 seconds, winning by ippon, pushing Slva into the repechage.

To continue dreaming of a medal, Baby needed to get past Austrian Daniel Allerstorfer.

The fight was tough and led to the golden score with one penalty against the Brazilian, and two against Allerstorfer.

After almost six minutes of fighting, the Austrian was punished again and lost the fight.

In the bronze dispute, the rival was Borna Bor.

The Hungarian, supported by the fans, did well, but the Brazilian's experience counted more.

The fight once again went to the golden score.